Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
wedding/mehendi time in Mumbai (henna hand-painting)
Last night was the Mehendi party for Anisa, bride-to-be, daughter of Zakir and Toni. We had lots of fun and loving attention, being fed by others while our hands dried...and listening to traditional henna-painting songs and music --at one point all the ladies got up and started dancing in a circle to the woops and claps of others! Sweets, sandwiches, namkeem (salty snacks) and chocolate cake were fed to us, while a cool breeze from the Indian ocean (visible from the apartment!) came thru the wide-open double windows...
We are over our initial shock from arriving in the city late at night...for both Assunta and myself, it was a reverse version of the story when Krishna's mother sees him eating dirt (often depicted in dances), and getting angry, asks him to open his mouth and show her what he's eaten. After much urging and tears, he finally opens his mouth for her. When she looks in, she sees the entire cosmos contained within him...for an instant she has a divine vision.
For us, it was like looking into Krishna's mouth, but this time seeing the entire dark, tamasic side of life...its hard to explain. Obviously, Mumbai is not just that -- we have recovered from the first night and are happy to be here, happy to be at the wedding, and there's a beautiful big tree outside our room, full of cawing crows, which reminds me of my very first visit to Bombay in 1980's,with Tara on my hip. But the contrast with our recent travels to villages and farms was so intense, the din and activity, late at night in the darkness. It just hit us like that--
Meanwhile, there is a railroad strike here that is keeping us from booking our train tickets (just spent almost 2 hours online trying to!!). We'll have to find another way to get there...or wait for the strike to be over. Maybe book a flight...
We are over our initial shock from arriving in the city late at night...for both Assunta and myself, it was a reverse version of the story when Krishna's mother sees him eating dirt (often depicted in dances), and getting angry, asks him to open his mouth and show her what he's eaten. After much urging and tears, he finally opens his mouth for her. When she looks in, she sees the entire cosmos contained within him...for an instant she has a divine vision.
For us, it was like looking into Krishna's mouth, but this time seeing the entire dark, tamasic side of life...its hard to explain. Obviously, Mumbai is not just that -- we have recovered from the first night and are happy to be here, happy to be at the wedding, and there's a beautiful big tree outside our room, full of cawing crows, which reminds me of my very first visit to Bombay in 1980's,with Tara on my hip. But the contrast with our recent travels to villages and farms was so intense, the din and activity, late at night in the darkness. It just hit us like that--
Meanwhile, there is a railroad strike here that is keeping us from booking our train tickets (just spent almost 2 hours online trying to!!). We'll have to find another way to get there...or wait for the strike to be over. Maybe book a flight...
Sunday, December 26, 2010
3 am blitz report from Central Mumbai YMCA
pls forgive any redundancies between this flash news report, and the previous quick post. This is an expanded version (expanded in a fit of hysterics at 3 am this morning!)
Well, we made it...to...hell. At least, that's certainly what it felt like last night when we attempted to arrive. Our flight from Bhubaneswar was completely uneventful, thanks for that. It was our landing back to earth that shook us up --ultimately into fits of unbridled laughter in the early hours of the morning. But I'm getting ahead of ourselves!
I suppose our delicate constitutions weren't ready for the aural, visual, super-amped, pulsating. throbbing, vibrating assault on all our senses. Having just experienced 10 days on a peaceful, ashram-like organic farm outside Dehradun, then transporting ourselves from there to the Himalayan foothills of Rishikesh, drinking in the mists of Ganga, climbing up to nearby peaks to view the Himalayas from Kunjapuri Shaktipeeth, then plunging ourselves into 10 days of non-stop immersion in dance and music in Bhubaneswar, we were hardly prepared for the onslaught of downtown Mumbai---hence the "hell" characterization (apologies to Mumbai!)..that's just how it hit us after a three-hour taxi-cab saga.
It all started out fairly innocently; we got our pre=paid govt. taxi at the airport, and announced our destination. It all seemed pretty straightforward and clear. 'yes Madame, no problem'. (well-intended) We were told it would be about 1/2 to our hotel (where we miraculously had gotten reservations earlier in the day--calling every day, as this is peak season.) From that point, things descending into a slippery slope, slowly (three hours duration slowly) , but surely. The fading light disappeared completely into the moist thick air, lending a glow of soft edges to all the electric lights that now illuminated this sprawling city.
About 2 1/2 hours into our journey (it had become a quest, at this point!), our young taxi driver was showing signs of fading...the first two 1/2 hours were devoted to navigating the most mind-numbing traffic jams I have ever experienced anywhere, ever (New Delhi has nothing on Mumbai!). Many times we were shoulder to shoulder with the car next to us --I could have reached out and kissed someone in the car next to me without a problem (not that i felt inspired to!! but it was that kind of proximity). At that point I had exchanged my normal driving-in-India paranoia about speed and crashing for a claustrophically-based phobia (redundancy...sorry!). We were bumper-to-bumper, shoulder-to-shoulder for what seemed like hours (and probably was close to two hours). Beads of sweat decorated our driver's brow, as he searched the general vicinity of where our hotel/YMCA was SUPPOSED to be *i.e. "near to Maratha Mandir". (Of course, "near to" could mean absolutely anything in India: behind, in front of, two blocks away, four blocks away, or just behind.) in this case, it meant "behind", but that too could have been any number of small streets...
Finally our taxi driver had had it. He pulled up to a near-by outdoor fish market --complete with fresh fish being eviscerated by fisherwomen a few feet from our car, turned off the car engine, and looked distraught. I pulled out my phone ---at that point Assunta was in a state of her own personal rapture, keeping entirely calm to counterbalance my growing hysteria--and I had the nerve to ask her for the 100th time "WHAT CODE DO I PUT IN FRONT OF THIS $^%*#$)#ing number to get thru on my (Indian) cell phone??" (I have been having trouble all these weeks with making my phone work...using the correct codes , etc, while Assunta has been pretty adept). She patiently turned to me and said "OO91O", for the umteenth time! At which point we managed to get thru to YMCA. This scenario was repeated at least three times, however, the driver was still not able to find the place.
It was then that I realized I had to take action...glazed over, watching fish heads being lopped off with large curved knives in front of me, I happened to see a nice older couple walking along. I practically screamed out the window "EXCUSE ME PLEASE!! CAN YOU PLEASE HELP US?? DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE YMCA IS??" And they did...leaving off with a blessing "God bless you, god bless you", which we certainly needed at that point in time...
A few more turns around the block, and yet the driver was completely fried, and went in an opposite direction to where the old man had pointed. We got him to turn around and go down another narrow street...where, lo and behold, we achieved our goal. And it only took three hours! : )
We paid off our driver with a nice tip ( he actually managed a faint smile at that point ---I'm sure he was more than glad to drop off these two Farangi with their heavy baggage!)
We checked in, looking forward to collapsing on to our beds...but NO! this was not to be: turns out there was a Christmas extravaganza party in the main auditorium of the YMCA, and wouldn't you know it, our room looked right out over the auditorium. BLASTING blaring Bollywood music was being sucked into our room through the Air Conditioner, and with every beat reverberated through our windows, which acted like a giant drum, amplifying every beat. This was punctuated every few moments by squeals of hysteria by several hundred children, who were being entertained (we had a bird's eye view of the entire goings on) by a black-clad, Fedora-hatted, underworld -looking character: the entertainment for the evening, a magician! Hoards of over-amped middle class Indian kids would explode into screams of delight and awe every time he would pull a white rat out of a hat, or use his magic stick (yes, he had one), and create flowers out of flames. He was the quintessential conjurer..from the dark side! A black vest jacket with tails, wearing shades, and the black Fedora...a scene out of Fellini, or, as Assunta noted, a scene from Terminator! It was wild...
however , amidst all of this, Assunta did manage to collapse onto the bed and fall into a deep and exhausted sleep!!! I wasn't able to however, and instead turned on the television, tryed to outblast the cacophany going on downstairs, and found the film "DEVDAS" being aired, which I watched until midnight, and finally drifted off into a confused sleep of Bollywood dreams--mixed up courtesan dreams and dances and magicians and screaming kids, bouncing off stone walls, moist air, taxis, A/C..where am I tonight???
to be continued! have to get off the hotel computer!!
love from Usha and Saraswati, the yatra continues..
Well, we made it...to...hell. At least, that's certainly what it felt like last night when we attempted to arrive. Our flight from Bhubaneswar was completely uneventful, thanks for that. It was our landing back to earth that shook us up --ultimately into fits of unbridled laughter in the early hours of the morning. But I'm getting ahead of ourselves!
I suppose our delicate constitutions weren't ready for the aural, visual, super-amped, pulsating. throbbing, vibrating assault on all our senses. Having just experienced 10 days on a peaceful, ashram-like organic farm outside Dehradun, then transporting ourselves from there to the Himalayan foothills of Rishikesh, drinking in the mists of Ganga, climbing up to nearby peaks to view the Himalayas from Kunjapuri Shaktipeeth, then plunging ourselves into 10 days of non-stop immersion in dance and music in Bhubaneswar, we were hardly prepared for the onslaught of downtown Mumbai---hence the "hell" characterization (apologies to Mumbai!)..that's just how it hit us after a three-hour taxi-cab saga.
It all started out fairly innocently; we got our pre=paid govt. taxi at the airport, and announced our destination. It all seemed pretty straightforward and clear. 'yes Madame, no problem'. (well-intended) We were told it would be about 1/2 to our hotel (where we miraculously had gotten reservations earlier in the day--calling every day, as this is peak season.) From that point, things descending into a slippery slope, slowly (three hours duration slowly) , but surely. The fading light disappeared completely into the moist thick air, lending a glow of soft edges to all the electric lights that now illuminated this sprawling city.
About 2 1/2 hours into our journey (it had become a quest, at this point!), our young taxi driver was showing signs of fading...the first two 1/2 hours were devoted to navigating the most mind-numbing traffic jams I have ever experienced anywhere, ever (New Delhi has nothing on Mumbai!). Many times we were shoulder to shoulder with the car next to us --I could have reached out and kissed someone in the car next to me without a problem (not that i felt inspired to!! but it was that kind of proximity). At that point I had exchanged my normal driving-in-India paranoia about speed and crashing for a claustrophically-based phobia (redundancy...sorry!). We were bumper-to-bumper, shoulder-to-shoulder for what seemed like hours (and probably was close to two hours). Beads of sweat decorated our driver's brow, as he searched the general vicinity of where our hotel/YMCA was SUPPOSED to be *i.e. "near to Maratha Mandir". (Of course, "near to" could mean absolutely anything in India: behind, in front of, two blocks away, four blocks away, or just behind.) in this case, it meant "behind", but that too could have been any number of small streets...
Finally our taxi driver had had it. He pulled up to a near-by outdoor fish market --complete with fresh fish being eviscerated by fisherwomen a few feet from our car, turned off the car engine, and looked distraught. I pulled out my phone ---at that point Assunta was in a state of her own personal rapture, keeping entirely calm to counterbalance my growing hysteria--and I had the nerve to ask her for the 100th time "WHAT CODE DO I PUT IN FRONT OF THIS $^%*#$)#ing number to get thru on my (Indian) cell phone??" (I have been having trouble all these weeks with making my phone work...using the correct codes , etc, while Assunta has been pretty adept). She patiently turned to me and said "OO91O", for the umteenth time! At which point we managed to get thru to YMCA. This scenario was repeated at least three times, however, the driver was still not able to find the place.
It was then that I realized I had to take action...glazed over, watching fish heads being lopped off with large curved knives in front of me, I happened to see a nice older couple walking along. I practically screamed out the window "EXCUSE ME PLEASE!! CAN YOU PLEASE HELP US?? DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE YMCA IS??" And they did...leaving off with a blessing "God bless you, god bless you", which we certainly needed at that point in time...
A few more turns around the block, and yet the driver was completely fried, and went in an opposite direction to where the old man had pointed. We got him to turn around and go down another narrow street...where, lo and behold, we achieved our goal. And it only took three hours! : )
We paid off our driver with a nice tip ( he actually managed a faint smile at that point ---I'm sure he was more than glad to drop off these two Farangi with their heavy baggage!)
We checked in, looking forward to collapsing on to our beds...but NO! this was not to be: turns out there was a Christmas extravaganza party in the main auditorium of the YMCA, and wouldn't you know it, our room looked right out over the auditorium. BLASTING blaring Bollywood music was being sucked into our room through the Air Conditioner, and with every beat reverberated through our windows, which acted like a giant drum, amplifying every beat. This was punctuated every few moments by squeals of hysteria by several hundred children, who were being entertained (we had a bird's eye view of the entire goings on) by a black-clad, Fedora-hatted, underworld -looking character: the entertainment for the evening, a magician! Hoards of over-amped middle class Indian kids would explode into screams of delight and awe every time he would pull a white rat out of a hat, or use his magic stick (yes, he had one), and create flowers out of flames. He was the quintessential conjurer..from the dark side! A black vest jacket with tails, wearing shades, and the black Fedora...a scene out of Fellini, or, as Assunta noted, a scene from Terminator! It was wild...
however , amidst all of this, Assunta did manage to collapse onto the bed and fall into a deep and exhausted sleep!!! I wasn't able to however, and instead turned on the television, tryed to outblast the cacophany going on downstairs, and found the film "DEVDAS" being aired, which I watched until midnight, and finally drifted off into a confused sleep of Bollywood dreams--mixed up courtesan dreams and dances and magicians and screaming kids, bouncing off stone walls, moist air, taxis, A/C..where am I tonight???
to be continued! have to get off the hotel computer!!
love from Usha and Saraswati, the yatra continues..
What a send-off!
Do wish we had a photo of you two seeing me off today with the faithful auto-wallah. All those layers of clothes had me sweating by the time I sat on the plane, but at least I got by without excess baggage charges! Wish I could have heard from you that you experienced the same relief. Anyway, thanks again for a wonderful 2 days together celebrating Christmas in Bhubaneswar!
from Devaloka to Asuraloka
ok,well, we just landed in the heart of Mumbai after a saga of searching for our hotel, so pls take that into consideration when I say that the transition from 64 Yogini temple-- located in the middle of paddy fields and surrounded by a small village--to Central Mumbai, has hardly been smooth.
Granted, our flight from Bhubaneswar was uneventful, so we had that to be thankful for. Maybe it was the three hour oddesy (sp?) from the airport to our hotel (the YMCA, of all places...) that just slightly put a dent in our mood! And the poor taxi driver in our classic yellow and black taxi finally actually GAVE UP finding the Y, after repeated directions on the phone to the Y. We ended up parked right in front of the fish market (we landed around 5:20pm, it was now nearing 8:00), he turned the engine off, and gave up (I didn't blame him -- I would have given up about two hours earlier!).
Finally , in desperation, I asked a nice looking couple if they knew where it was...and indeed they could direct us finally...
oops, gotta get off the computer, someone's waiting...wish us luck...Kali Yug embodied...but maybe a night's rest will reveal other things
Granted, our flight from Bhubaneswar was uneventful, so we had that to be thankful for. Maybe it was the three hour oddesy (sp?) from the airport to our hotel (the YMCA, of all places...) that just slightly put a dent in our mood! And the poor taxi driver in our classic yellow and black taxi finally actually GAVE UP finding the Y, after repeated directions on the phone to the Y. We ended up parked right in front of the fish market (we landed around 5:20pm, it was now nearing 8:00), he turned the engine off, and gave up (I didn't blame him -- I would have given up about two hours earlier!).
Finally , in desperation, I asked a nice looking couple if they knew where it was...and indeed they could direct us finally...
oops, gotta get off the computer, someone's waiting...wish us luck...Kali Yug embodied...but maybe a night's rest will reveal other things
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Post yogini temple December 24 th GLOW
Grand central station hotel has been our headquarters during our stay in Bhubaneshwar. Yesterday we had a full twelve hour excursion to the Hirapur 64 Yogini Temple and to Puri. It was a fabulous day. We spent several hours at the temple fully enjoying the company of Pratibha Jena Singh, her mother Kumudini, and Parvati(Melissa),of the 63 yoginis plus the 9 guardians of the temple. A special Durga puja was performed for us 5 in front of Durga Yogini by a young pujari. He asked us to purchase the sari wrapped around Durga but we didn't - maybe tomorrow... YES we are returning to Hirapur on Christmas day to enjoy a dance festival taking place at the yogini temple. We shall be thinking of our families, loved ones and friends. MERRY Christmas eve, Merry Christmas to you all. Much Love and Light...as our days get longer.
Love, Assunta (Usha)
Love, Assunta (Usha)
bumble bee blessing at Hirapur temple!!!
forgot to mention, just as we entered the temple complex, and had completed a small puja at the Shiva temple, set just in front of the goddess temple, a very very large black and yellow bumble bee BUZZZZZEED us (myself, Melissa, Assunta and Pratibha)!!!
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This could not be ignored....and it was the biggest fattest bumblebee I've ever seen. I asked the guide if it was really a bee, since I'd never seen one that size, and he assured me that it was.
The Goddess speaks through her messengers, and today, it was a big beautiful black bumble bee!!!
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This could not be ignored....and it was the biggest fattest bumblebee I've ever seen. I asked the guide if it was really a bee, since I'd never seen one that size, and he assured me that it was.
The Goddess speaks through her messengers, and today, it was a big beautiful black bumble bee!!!
Hirapur 64 Yogini temple: a visit to a 12th century Tantric goddess temple
Today we had the good fortune to travel to Hirapur with Odissi dancer Pratibha Jena Singh, who so profoundly depicts the 64 Yoginis in a dance choreographed by her father,the late Guru Surendranath Jena.
Our car wound its way through incredibly narrow local village streets until it reached the beautifully preserved site of this small and intimate temple-in-the-round.
I was able to take a photo of each of the 64 Yogini statues (only one is missing from the temple)! (photos follow, when we finally get to a computer that works for uploading photos)
From there we drove on to Puri, and spent a memorable day there, at the beach, searching for hand loom Sambulpuri woven saris for costumes, and ending the day on the beach, with the sun turning a brilliant orange -red, before it sank into the sea.
Our car wound its way through incredibly narrow local village streets until it reached the beautifully preserved site of this small and intimate temple-in-the-round.
I was able to take a photo of each of the 64 Yogini statues (only one is missing from the temple)! (photos follow, when we finally get to a computer that works for uploading photos)
From there we drove on to Puri, and spent a memorable day there, at the beach, searching for hand loom Sambulpuri woven saris for costumes, and ending the day on the beach, with the sun turning a brilliant orange -red, before it sank into the sea.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Desperately seeking cyber cafe!!
We're experiencing technical difficulties here....we have not yet found a cyber cafe in Bhubaneswar where we can download our photos to a Pikasa site. frustrating!! I am sure there must be a place, but it's certainly not obvious to us. We did find a place inside a 4*hotel, and thought our problems were solved, but we wee informed that it would take 5 minutes per photos to upload them....well, that didn't seem like a good use of time, so we 'll keep searching. We have lots of great photos just waiting to be posted :(
In Rishikesh, every other corner has a cyber cafe, and we got spoiled by that. But, no complaints, we've been bathing in hours of music and dance every day-- would just have loved to share some of that with you all...
saraswati
In Rishikesh, every other corner has a cyber cafe, and we got spoiled by that. But, no complaints, we've been bathing in hours of music and dance every day-- would just have loved to share some of that with you all...
saraswati
Monday, December 20, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Bhubaneswar/Puri Yatra
Our first post! This will be short, because we are off to Odissi Research Center to watch a dance rehearsal with Jyoti Rout and her dancers from USA. They will be performing in a four- day dance festival starting tonight. More later...
saraswati
saraswati
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